The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers was created in 1998 to handle the Internet's addressing issues.

It will no longer have its work prescribed for it by the Commerce Department, said Paul Twomey, ICANN's president and chief executive.

Internet registrars, some foreign governments and other critics of ICANN have complained about the U.S. oversight role. The U.S. has agreed to join in a newly created international forum to discuss matters ICANN wouldn't normally handle.

ENERGY

Field's shutdown won't halt BP work

ANCHORAGE, ALASKA - The shutdown of a satellite field on Alaska's North Slope will not stop BP from beginning the process of cleaning out a corroded transit line in the nation's largest oil field.

"We're going to start a series of maintenance pigs this weekend," spokesman Steve Rinehart said Friday.

On Thursday, BP shut down a satellite Prudhoe Bay oil field after workers detected natural gas leaking into a manifold building, a key control facility.

The shutdown of Lisburne, a satellite field that feeds into the Prudhoe production stream, sent production down by 25,000 to 30,000 barrels per day, about 4 percent of North Slope output.

The gas had dissipated by late Thursday.

The shutdown was a setback in what had been a gradually improving oil production picture since the eastern side of Prudhoe Bay ceased production Aug. 10, a few days after a leak was discovered in a corroded transit line.

MORTGAGES

Banks ordered to explain loans

WASHINGTON - Federal regulators directed banks on Friday to properly explain the risks posed to borrowers from interest-only and other nontraditional mortgages.

The guidance was aimed at addressing the fear that consumers don't understand all the repayment risks involved in these mortgages, including rising interest rates, which could greatly increase their monthly payments.

The new guidance will be used as a benchmark for audits of banks' operating procedures performed by the regulatory agencies.

ELECTRICITY

Entergy requests federal assistance

NEW ORLEANS - Entergy New Orleans, under fire for requesting a big rate increase from local power customers devastated by last year's Hurricane Katrina, is hoping to get enough federal aid to minimize the rate hike, CEO
Dan Packer
said this week.

Pressure is building for the utility to limit higher rates and have its parent company, Entergy Corp., do more to help it recover and avoid stifling the city's effort to rebuild.

Packer conceded that local recovery efforts could be hindered by Entergy's request for $45 more a month from the typical New Orleans customer.

"We worry about it," he said. But he added that Entergy New Orleans, which filed for bankruptcy protection after Katrina, must fix equipment, reassure creditors and create a reserve for future storms.

COURT

British executive can go home

NEW YORK - A judge cleared a former British betting-company executive to return to London on Friday after New York's governor declined to sign a warrant extraditing him to Louisiana, where he is charged with illegal online gambling.

Dicks is not charged with any crime in New York. In explaining why he didn't sign the warrant, New York Gov. George Pataki said his state's law only permitted extradition if the accused person was physically present where he is accused of breaking the law. Dicks hasn't been in Louisiana in decades, and the charges there revolved around his activities in Great Britain.